On 17 Sep 1998 14:29:37 GMT Heiko W.Rupp wrote:
> Simon Burge wrote:
> |This is cool. A "sets.lst" file or somesuch with the set name (assume
>
> This would also have the advantage, that one can present the user a list
> of sets before disk partitioning. The user is asked which sets she wants
> and the system can then figrure out good siez for /, /usr and /var
Ok, I've had a quick tinker and come up with the following which is
lightly based on the Solaris "packagetoc" file on their installation
CDs. For each set, we define the following properties:
* SET set name
* DESC yada yada yada
FLAGS ...
DEPENDS <other set>
DEPENDS <other set>
DEPENDS <other set>
ROOTSIZE <stuff not in /usr and /var in Kbytes>
USRSIZE <stuff in /usr in Kbytes>
VARSIZE <stuff in /var in Kbytes>
* MD5 12345678901234567890123456789012
Properties marked with a "*" are required, others are optional. A
blank line or end-of-file could mark the end of a set definition or
maybe another keyword "ENDSET". Whatever. At the moment, the only
FLAGS value I can think of would be "required" and this would apply
(for example) to the base and etc sets in a new installation.
As Heiko suggests, we can then read this file before partitioning the
disk(s) and actually know how big each filesystem needs to be - this
would be a real win. We'd now have "what do you want, and where do you
want to put it" rather than "where do you want to put it and now what do
you want - it doesn't fit - suffer". I've only split up the filesystem
requirements in to /, /usr and /var - maybe we need a /usr/pkg split and
binary packages can be part of this overall install system too?
Another idea I haven't thought about too much is the idea of subsets.
For example, we might break up xfont into 75dpi fonts, 100dpi fonts and
the rest and let the user choose only those subsets they want/need.
Something like:
* SUBSET subset name
* SETPARENT name of set subset belongs to
FLAGS ...
DEPENDS <other set>
DEPENDS <other set>
ROOTSIZE <in Kbytes>
USRSIZE <in Kbytes>
VARSIZE <in Kbytes>
and subsets could be individual tar files inside the set tar file. Or
perhaps having dozens of smaller subset files may be better than a
couple of large set files. You can then choose the entire set, or just
some parts of the set. A really, really obvious use of subsets is the
package system - select the pkg-lang set, choose the extra languages you
want to install and you're off and running. Anyways, this one needs a
lot more thought.
For the complete "sets.lst" file that would have come with NetBSD/pmax
1.3.2, see below.
Ideas, comments, flames, free burritos?
Simon.
--
SET base
DESC Base binary distribution
FLAGS required
ROOTSIZE 13419
USRSIZE 24409
VARSIZE 41
MD5 28af8a1e524d0ca95fce7538bfaf15ba
SET comp
DESC Compiler tools
USRSIZE 43933
VARSIZE 146
MD5 fbb73e03005cbe926a2d0692d49f5535
SET etc
DESC System configuration files
FLAGS required
ROOTSIZE 290
VARSIZE 26
MD5 d0fe8bbed82ff12202c98fd99496076b
SET games
DESC Games and their manual pages
USRSIZE 8078
VARSIZE 37
MD5 b31c38f2ee64d9624571a789fdac5cd1
SET kern
DESC Bootable kernel
ROOTSIZE 1377
MD5 9daa62281e4107453b46168364d3a1c5
SET man
DESC Manual pages for software in base set
USRSIZE 9542
MD5 58de789a0915bfc3cc834dd03a3ef1f9
SET misc
DESC System dictionaries, typesettable document set, extra man pages
USRSIZE 8355
MD5 997523daae2e6e5fa5478889bd6ded63
SET text
DESC Text processing tools
USRSIZE 4322
MD5 d3bc68d345407678e09ed1c9da8c35a6
SET xbase
DESC Basic X client environment
USRSIZE 11270
MD5 e1dc1c4d144fdf9153795174251164ef
SET xcomp
DESC X libraries and include files
DEPENDS xbase
USRSIZE 10332
MD5 2c2b241aa2f2ed167cc5c692cb6ef850
SET xcontrib
DESC Programs that were contributed to X
DEPENDS xbase
USRSIZE 753
MD5 524938ba9fdf3276042484dc3dfd2e26
SET xfont
DESC X fonts
DEPENDS xbase
USRSIZE 6951
MD5 79a15b1067a91cebacb42590ae6fe4cf
SET xserver
DESC X servers built from X11R5
DEPENDS xbase
USRSIZE 1944
MD5 d1229130277b338b299f076bd140dba9